Adobe Premiere Elements vs Pro – Which is Better? Full Comparison with Tips

If you’re a beginner or an expert video editor, you can hardly ever go wrong with choosing an Adobe product for your video editing needs.

However, Adobe does provide a range of different products with varying functionality which can make it confusing to choose which tool to go for. 

This post is a detailed comparison between Adobe Premiere Elements and Adobe Premiere Pro as well as an analysis of which tool you should go for as an online course creator. 

FeaturesAdobe Premiere ElementsAdobe Premiere Pro CC
Pricing4 and a half stars3 stars
System Requirements4 and a half stars3 and a half stars
Interface4 stars5 stars
Ease of Use5 stars4 stars
Color correction and color grading options3 and a half stars4 and a half stars
Audio correction options3 and a half stars4 and a half stars
Effects 3 and a half stars5 stars

Now that we’ve had a quick look at what Premiere Pro and Premiere Elements have to offer, let’s analyze both of them in detail. 

Adobe Premiere Elements Review – User-Friendly and Affordable

adobe premier elements

Premiere Elements is a video editing software designed by Adobe with beginners and newcomers in mind. 

Its interface is easy to absorb and its features are self-explanatory. If you don’t have a lot of experience with video editing, Premiere Elements is definitely an option worth considering. 

While a software like Premiere Pro provides you with endless customizability, Premiere Elements reels back on the customizability aspect and instead, provides you with presets that are easy to work with. 

Premiere Elements can also be a great option for people that don’t have as powerful of a workstation. This is because it requires a lot less processing power to do its job than a software like Premiere Pro does. 

Features of Adobe Premiere Elements

  • Helpful presets for interface as well as effects
  • Guided editing
  • Video tagging for organization
  • “Find by Faces” feature
  • Visual noise reduction
Pros Cons
Budget-friendly

Helpful footage organization using tags

Presets to reduce workload and effort

Intuitive interface

Easy to use 
Customizability and effects are limited

Not synced with other Adobe products such as After Effects

Benefits of Adobe Premiere Elements

Premiere Elements is the best video editing software for someone who’s just starting out and does not have a lot of prior experience with video editing. 

Guided Edits

guided edits

The guided editing feature within Premiere Elements is super helpful as it guides users from start to finish on how to create a certain type of video. 

Once you’ve gone through a guided edit of a certain type of video in Premiere Elements, you’ll then have a fair understanding of how that video was made. Hence, you’ll easily be able to do it on your own in the future. 

Affordable 

Compared to Premiere Pro, Premiere Elements has a much more reasonable price. 

It’s $99.99 for a one-time purchase of Premiere Elements. 

This may seem like a lot but compared to Premiere Pro’s monthly subscription plan, we feel a one-time purchase is a much better option for an online course creator

This is because you won’t be constantly creating videos as an online course creator which is why a monthly subscription may sometimes be a waste of money when you’re not creating. 

On the other hand, a one-time purchase of Premiere Elements will mean that you have it forever and you can use it whenever you want. 

Thus, if you ever want to create more videos for a future online course, Premiere Elements will be there for you to utilize. 

Organization through Tagging

It’s very easy to organize all the clips and footage that you import into Premiere Elements. 

While you can simply make folders for different types of clips, you can also use tags to categorize them. 

These tags can really help you out as an online course creator because you can tag clips that are related to a certain lesson or module for easy access. 

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Adobe Premiere Elements

Pricing

$99.99 may seem like a high price to pay for a single app but the amount of value you get for that $99.99 is astonishing. 

We feel that one-time purchases can be much better for online course creators than monthly subscriptions since online course creators tend not to use certain softwares regularly. 

It depends on the stage of online course creation they’re on as well as if they’re even currently making an online course or not. 

Ease of Use

ease of use

Premiere Elements is much easier to use than Premiere Pro CC as well as other video editing tools out there. 

This is because Adobe has specifically designed this tool for new users that have no experience with editing videos in the past. 

It’s a lighter version of Premiere Pro that may not have the same level of features but is undeniably easier to use. 

You can create professional-looking videos using it right out of the gate with its guided edits, presets, and intuitive interface. 

Color Correction and Color Grading Options

color correction options

The color correction and color grading options within Premiere Elements are fairly limited. 

However, while they may be limited, we still feel that they’re adequate enough for someone who’s creating videos for an online course. 

Unless you’re literally making an online course about video editing and color correction, you really won’t need anything more than what Premiere Elements has to offer. 

Audio Correction Options

audio correction options

Similar to what we said about color correction and color grading, the audio editing options in Premiere Elements are not as extensive as they are in Premiere Pro. 

With that being said, we still feel that the audio correction options that Premiere Elements does offer are still adequate enough for you to create professional-sounding videos. 

Effects

Adobe premiere pro vs

Premiere Elements does have a few preset features but if we’re being honest, they’re fairly outdated and will result in your video not looking professional. 

If you want more trendy effects within your videos, you may have to look towards Premiere Pro but if you just want simple videos with simple cuts, then Premiere Elements is more than enough. 

What Do the Customers Think?

The reviews we came across online of Premiere Elements are exactly what we expected: People how intuitive the interface is to use as well as how easy it is to import footage and edit it. 

People also love the video playback panel and how it’s centrally placed so you can see all of your edits and changes in real-time. 

Here are some of the reviews we came across: 

adobe social proof
social proof
adobe

Best User-Friendly Video Editing Tool

The best user-friendly video editing tool is Premiere Elements thanks to its easy-to-navigate interface. While it has limited features, they are more than enough for online course creators and are easy to get the hang of. 

Adobe Premiere Pro Review – Powerful and Packed with Features

adobe premier pro

Premiere Pro CC provides its user with a much bigger library of presets, effects, and features along with a completely customizable interface for easy video editing.

Want quick access to effects you use regularly? Simply add the effects panel to the main interface.

It’s all super simple and allows you to really streamline your workflow so you can efficiently use your time to create professional videos.

Features of Adobe Premiere Pro

  • In-depth color correction with Lumetri Color
  • Detailed audio correction options
  • Huge library of visual effects
  • Multi-screen compatibility
  • Integration with other Adobe tools in the Creative Cloud
Pros Cons
Customizable interface

Extensive color grading options

Extensive fine-tuning options

Can use assets from other Adobe software

Preset library is much more extensive
Fairly expensive

Can be intimidating for beginners

Benefits of Adobe Premiere Pro

Bigger Library of Effects, Presets and Transitions

Contrary to Premiere Elements’ simple and intuitive approach, Premiere Pro is designed for professional editors and people that want to edit videos with full control. 

If you’re just creating straightforward videos with no effects, transitions, or color grading, then you may find it difficult to see the difference in features between Premiere Pro and Premiere Elements.

However, if you want to create industry-standard professional videos, Premiere Pro can definitely help you do that with ease. 

Premiere Pro has an enormous library of effects, transitions (both audio and video) that you can utilize to make your video clip(s) more smooth and professional. 

Full Customizability and Control

customize

Its customization options are limitless as we mentioned earlier. You can customize Premiere Pro’s interface in any way you want so that it suits the way you work. 

Integration with Other Adobe Products

Unlike Premiere Elements, Premiere Pro is able to sync with all other Adobe tools, so you can utilize them within your work as well. 

For example, if you’ve made a short clip in Adobe After Effects and want to add it into Premiere Pro CC, you can easily do that. 

In the future, if you want to make any changes to that clip, you can simply do so in After Effects and the changes will show up in Premiere Pro as well. 

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Adobe Premiere Pro

Pricing

Unlike Premiere Elements, Premiere Pro CC does not come as a one-time purchase. 

Instead, it comes at a subscription of $20.99 per month. If you want all the other tools within the Adobe Creative Cloud, then it will cost you $52.99 per month. 

We suggest that you go for Premiere Pro if you feel you’ll regularly be using it down the line. 

As an online course creator, unless you have a lot of courses in the works, you won’t be using video editing tools regularly. Hence, a subscription-based pricing plan may not be suitable for you. 

Ease of Use

Premiere Pro CC is definitely not the tool you want to go for if you’re just starting out as a video editor. 

It’s meant for seasoned editors that know what they want out of a video editor. 

Adobe offers complete control over how you use Premiere Pro but you need to know how to use it in order to unlock its full potential. 

Unless you have a lot of time to spend learning Premiere Pro (which you probably won’t as an online course creator), we suggest you go for Premiere Elements instead. 

Color Correction and Color Grading Options

Premiere Pro and Premiere Elements both offer color correction options but Premiere Pro offers much more extensive options. 

Along with color correction, color grading in Premiere Pro is also very easy thanks to the Lumetri Color effect.

The Lumetri Color effect has a number of sliders and aspects of the video that you can play around with to make it better. 

This includes levels, highlights, shadows, blacks, whites, hue, saturation, luminance, etc. 

If you don’t want to get in too deep with the color grading and correction, it also has a ton of presets that suit different moods and styles. 

color correction and grading options
rgb curves
color wheels
settings

Audio Correction Options

Audio correction is much more extensive and well-defined within Adobe Premiere Pro vs Premiere Elements. 

Premiere Elements has some basic correction options but the features in Premiere Pro are much more effective. 

You can even isolate certain frequencies so that they don’t show up within your audio. 

So, if, for example, all of your lecture footage has some annoying hum or buzz in the background, you can easily remove it with Premiere Pro. 

audio effects
settings

Effects

As for effects, Premiere Pro definitely wins here over Premiere Elements mainly due to two reasons: 

  1. It has a much bigger library video and audio effects
  2. The options to manipulate these effects are much more extensive.

As mentioned earlier, the effects in Premiere Elements’ library are outdated whereas the effects in Premiere Pro are much more helpful and can really increase the production value of your videos. 

Seasoned video editors regularly use and customize many of the effects in Premiere Pro’s library in order to edit videos exactly the way they want. 

effects

What Do the Customers Think?

While it may be intimidating for newcomers, Premiere Pro is considered by many professionals to be the right editing software for them. 

The customizability of the timeline panel along with the tons of features it provides is something that video editing professionals everywhere appreciate. 

Here are some reviews we came across: 

adobe premier pro
adobe preier pro social proof
social proof

Best Feature-Heavy Video Editing Tool

The best feature-heavy video editing tool is Adobe Premiere Pro thanks to its extensive customizability, a huge library of presets, and an unending list of features. It works great for editing straightforward videos as well as for big projects with tons of footage. 

If you’re an online course creator on a budget, you may want to look at other tools like Wondershare’s Filmora X, FilmoraPro, and Movavi

Adobe Premiere Pro vs Elements – Buyers’ Guide

adobe premier element vs pro

Pricing

As an online course creator, you will most likely be on a tight budget. Hence, a one-time purchase can make more sense than a monthly subscription. 

However, if your online course requires regular video editing, you could opt to go for Premiere Pro. 

Furthermore, if you feel you can get used out of other Adobe tools, then you could even go for a monthly subscription to the Adobe Creative Cloud. 

On the other hand, if you’re just going to be making small videos for your online course, we suggest Premiere Elements. 

We feel that below $100 for a one-time purchase is a reasonable price for a video editing tool.

Ease of Use

Expert video editors demand full control over the video editing process which is why most video editing software is very overwhelming to get into. 

You should look for one that is geared towards beginners.

Color Correction and Color Grading Options

If you’re just making simple lecture videos, you may not need a software with tons of color grading options. 

However, you should opt for a tool that has some basic color correction options such as white balance, temperature, etc. 

Take a look at our website to learn all there is to start an online course business.

Final Verdict

This brings us to the end of our comparison review between Premiere Pro and Premiere Elements. 

We feel the two programs are made for two entirely different audiences. 

If you know your way around video editing, you can go for Premiere Pro but if you want a simple tool with automatic adjustments and guidance, go for Premiere Elements.